Let's Talk About Brass Tumbling

[Pablo5959]

I just use walnut from harbor freight, nu-finish and add a little mineral spirits.
The mineral spirits cleans and keeps down the dust.
I’ll let it run for about 3 hours and done
Perfectly clean, better then new brass is not important to me.
If you don’t de-prime first, there not clean anyway.

[XDJYo]

3-4 hours? You're doing it wrong. The absolute minimum is 12 hours in 2 hour cycles. Manually turn each case the opposite way in between each cycle. Then, start the new cycle. After that, hand polish each case with a Dremel and a felt polishing wheel and Flitz. And, don't whimp out-do the insides as well.

Honestly, never went the dry tumble route. Went straight for the wet tumble with stainless steel pins.

[stormvet]

My handgun reloads are for shooting not looking at, I run my tumbler about 2.5 hours loaded with as many casing that will fit. Most of the casings have been fired several times. I don’t really care if they are shiny I just want to knock the dirt and some carbon off them so I can shoot them again.

[anonymouscuban]

This is kind of why I made this thread. I've only been reloading for a year so newer to this. I most recently tried wet tumbling and it gets the cases shinier than dry but it's more hassle. And it shoots all the same in my pistols. When shooting a couple thousand rounds a month, hassle free is what I'm after. I really don't care how pretty they look.

I mean, as far I can tell, I can load rounds without any case cleaning and I imagine they will run all the same.

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[sirgrumps]

For me in walnut media Dillon’s case polish works way better than Nu-finish.

Better - that’s an opinion, but cost wise and ease of purchase, Nu-Finish wins, hands down.

Also adding some mineral spirits to think down the nu-finish seems to really brighten the brass up.

Here's a tip and a PSA for all you vibratory tumbler users:

When I was using a vibrating tumbler, I found that I got better agitation and shorter total time if I left the lid off the tumbler tub. Cut the time down to about 2 hours.

Unfortunately, if you leave the lid off, that tumbler emits a continuous cloud of walnut or corncob dust that is very heavily laden with lead styphnate. So if you leave the lid off, do it outdoors-far from your habitable areas, and do not stand over the tumbler watching your cases go round and round..... Your blood won't be happy!

That’s one way to reduce time, that I got to try.

However, if you reduce the number of cases, per load, running time seems to drop as well.

I mean, as far I can tell, I can load rounds without any case cleaning and I imagine they will run all the same.

They may shoot the same, however, it hard on the reloading dies and the pistol chambers.

It’s also hard on extractors.

The brass doesn’t have to be bright and shiny like new rounds, just clean enough to remove the carbon residue.

[ar15barrels]

I can load rounds without any case cleaning and I imagine they will run all the same.

They will shoot the same.
The main reason for cleaning brass is so your dies don't wear out as fast.

[anonymouscuban]

They will shoot the same.

The main reason for cleaning brass is so your dies don't wear out as fast.

Carbide dies? Maybe. No expert. I'm not advocating to not clean brass at all, I guess just needed some validation that obsessing over getting them spotless is preference and not necessary.

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[ar15barrels]

Carbide dies? Maybe. No expert. I'm not advocating to not clean brass at all, I guess just needed some validation that obsessing over getting them spotless is preference and not necessary.

Even carbide dies will wear out eventually.
If you shoot a lot (say 1k rounds a month of the same chambering for 20 years), you will eventually notice that your ammo won't fit the chamber anymore and it's time for new dies.
This will be after several rebarrels.

[newbie1234]

So many complicate tumbling methods, mine is vey simple.
- I decapped before tumble, Lee Unniversal Decapped die $12-$15, https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1011183740?pid=136543
- Wet tumbling machine from Harborfreight, $60 the one with two holders/jars..... https://www.harborfreight.com/dual-d...ler-67632.html
- NO tumbling media.
- I used hot water from coffee maker, just pour in the cold water let it run through without coffee ground nor filter and then add on the tap water if necessary.
- I used about 0.5cc of dishwasher liquid from the kitchen, don't care the brand, the kitchen's boss said the dish washer she bought is good, I HAVE TO TAKE HER WORDS , I add on a pinch of Lime Shine, got it at Walmart a couple bucks will last you a life time.
- I run the tumbler about 1 hour with hot water, 1 and half hours with cold water.
- And let the California's sun dries my brass.

It's easy. More than 10K rds already, all of them bang.

[AGGRO]

Wash and clean brass with soap
Dry
Lube and deprime
Tumble with walnut/cob with dryer sheets for one hour
Measure/trim and chamfer
Tumble again for 30 min
Primer
Charge, bullet seat
Done

[fguffey]

I have one tumbler that hold 1,000 30/06 cases 'OR' it holds 40 pounds of cases.

And then there is the worst of cases. I have purchased cases that most reloaders would not take home if they were free. I paid $14.00 for 1,400 30/06 cases. The cases had patina and character, I did not start by tumbling I started by soaking the cases in 5% vinegar for 15 minutes. After soaking in vinegar I rinsed them in boiling water twice. After rinsing I tumbled the cases for an hour in corn media.

I had another batch I purchased in North Carolina that had a 30 Cal dirt dobber in each one of them, I waited for the dirt dobbers to leave before I started. My wife claimed a black cloud exited the garage when she opened the door. It tool a lot of wire brushing on the inside of the case but the effort was worth it. Again I used vinegar to cut down on the amount of tumbling time.

And then there was the 3 belts of 30/06 military cases on three belts, the cases were LC with head stamp of years of 43 and 53 and 47.

F. Guffey

[Lead Waster]

1) As many as will fit and still allow the media to circulate.

2) Until they are clean.

And if you add strips of dryer sheets the media will stay cleaner longer.

Ditto that. I cram in as many as I can until the brass is almost touching the cover.

[divingin]

Both wet tumbled for 2 hours with another 2 hours in the dehydrator.

2 hours dry time? What temp are you running?

I usually dry for twice as long as necessary: an hour at 70C. I do turn cases mouth down though, so no puddles to evaporate.

[MongooseV8]

9mm and 45acp I dont tumble at all they dont get that dirty. 357 45 colt and 460 I tumble for like an hour just to get the grit off then I load them.

Rifle rounds get more attention

[jyc]

2 hours dry time? What temp are you running?



I usually dry for twice as long as necessary: an hour at 70C. I do turn cases mouth down though, so no puddles to evaporate.

Not sure I'm using a cheap $20 dehydrator so I only dry for 2 hours because that's how long I tumble.

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